Creme de la Creme

This is a fascinating blend of two genres, the fougere and gourmand, and because of this shares a lot in common with Roja's exquisite Kingdom of Bahrain, which also has clary sage, jasmine, rose, generous Ambergris and oud. Imagine Kingdom of Bahrain without the citruses, and amped up ambergris and real oud, and you get a glimpse of what Creme de la Creme is like. The oud at the top has a fresh minty quality, and that at the base is Indonesian and very similar if not identical to that in History of Indonesian Oud. The ambergris is salty and very clean-smelling. The fragrance opened with a salty blast of mint and clary sage, which becomes ever so slightly spicy and creamy as time passes, with a distinct barber shop feel emerging from the creamy sandalwood, orris, and sage. A coca cola and cherry vibe also becomes apparent as the fragrance progresses, no doubt from the Indonesian oud, but nothing seems to dominate except for a salty cloud-like feel that follows you around all day, shape-shifting as you catch glimpses and wafts of one note after another in a delicious kaleidoscope, that is at once gourmand, and barber shop. At times it seems like ocean foam, others like shaving cream, still others like a subtle tobacco, cherry cola fragrance. It is hard to label distinct phases because once you think a note has faded it comes back like a tidal wave an hour later. I wore this on a day it was 10 C and cloudy with considerable wind and was surprised that with every gust the scent become stronger, rather than less detectable, which is what usually happens with a cold wind. But it is not heavy or sweet, and not too floral or spicy, with creaminess and saltiness always at the forefront. So you could easily pull it off in warmer weather, although I would avoid the warmest days. It also lasts forever and seems to get more complex and intoxicating as it develops. It is the most modern fragrance in this collection, with nothing overly vintage about it except for a slight barber shop vibe that comes out here and there like shaving cream. This also makes it masculine leaning although I would not say it was a 'masculine' fragrance, so a woman can still pull it off. Another banger in this collection, which only seems composed of strengths with no apparent weakness.

First impressions: I received a 5 or 7 ml from Musk fragrances. They are good, glass spray decants. It was about $100. I like it and is the only Musk series from Areej that I had not tried or have. Except Forbidden Flower, not interested. The fresh, green medicinal opening is mostly the ambergris I believe. Or maybe it is a green oud. This does remind me of Areej Chinese Oud. It also reminds me of Baikal Gris which doesn't have the oud, but they both have prominent ambergris. The spices here are clove and nutmeg, as my guesses. In the dry-down the florals are more noticeable, the jasmine is strongest. I'm glad I have a 7 ml and won't look for a bottle. As I already have Baikal Gris, and Agar de Noir, both of which have just as nice ambergris, and are better all-around fragrances. PS: Now that I'm well into the dry-down, it's truly the best part. I can't think of a fragrance that has become so much better in the dry-down. Bumping up my rating... The ambergris, florals and oud come into perfect harmony. Rating: 9/10 God bless. John 3:16

My first impression review for the full set. I may add the full post impressions later, after a week. This is my favorite so far. Not a single note is prominent, and this is least animalic scent. It is actually very pleasant. You feel spices, orris dancing with sandalwood creating smoothness, a bit of sour flowers as rose, jasmine and Y-Y. There is absolute little oud just to support the composition, and there is a feel of ambergris. If there is a lot of Ambergris, then it is defo a white entity with a very refined non-animalic backbone. This is absolutely not creamy, when in the same collection the Forbidden Flower exists. P.S. Post review ranking of animalicness for the collection from most animalic to least animalic, for you, my animalic-lover perverts: 1. Royal Barn (1 and 2 are interchangeable) 2. Forbidden Flower 3. Cuirtis 4. Creme De La Creme 5. Paradise Soil P.S.2. I hope that Ramsey will get his hands on all these perfumes to do a review.

This is a difficult perfume for me to describe. It opens with a fizzy/buzzy texture, kind of minty, it's like a seafoam green camphorous oud, sort of. There's almost a cola/Dr Pepper type of spicy effervescence As it moves from the top, it generally reminds me of Alexandria II from Xerjoff. The oud/sandalwood/spice interplay, some overlapping qualities. In CdlC I get more depth from the oud than in AII, AII is almost a straight woman's hairspray type of aroma. CdlC flirts with that territory to my nose, it's kind of sticky, but definitely giving "grooming product" (shaving cream, hair spray, baby wipes) association to me. Barring the similarities to AII, this still feels like a unique offering from ALD. I love the way Russian Adam works with ambergris, and this doesn't feel redundant for the other work he's offered with either oud or ambergris. Tons for the nose to explore with this one

WOW! Stunning scent, salty ambergris with a creamy oriental feel. I love how smooth CDLC feels on my skin. The powderyness in this reminds me of the texture of A2 by Xerjoff ( don't believe I'm saying they are similar), I am just describing the texture I feel. Creme de La Creme is hard to describe in my opinion. Ambergris is forsure the main player in the composition, I also get this christmas spice feeling, cloves perhaps? Addiciting smell, not too challenging for me.

first impressions: A creamy, effervescent ambergris scent with floral hues that reminds you of his sixth blockbuster, Grandenia. Really well executed, one of my top rated ALD bottles but will have to take more wearings to really cement its place.

9.6-9.7/10 Its approaching my top 3 easily I dont know what it is the oud ambergris or sandalwood but this is unreal so addictive to smell ANYBODY selling a bottle please PM me

My husband has requested that I review some of the more artisanal offerings from his collection. Upon first spray I get a sweet dried fruit scent like dates soaked in booze. Then the oud comes in, and it is quite a barnyard oud. Then I detect some florals in the dry down. It’s very loud and should be sprayed with caution and definitely suitable for colder weather. I find it quite headache inducing but then again, it’s not to my taste. If you’re an oud lover, you might enjoy it. Deep in the dry down this becomes more palatable and I would enjoy this on my husband if modestly sprayed.

I don't get any creaminess from this. It's a dark and smoky ambergris and sandalwood with herbal facets, a lot of the sage comes through. It's very unique and interesting but I think the majority of people would struggle to wear this in public. Definitely a try before you buy as the name can be misleading. Nothing like Grandenia whatsoever. A lot of fans have it as their favourite. Retailing at $380.

#sotd Creme De La Creme by Areej Le Dore from Russian Adam First spray, mint, I am scratching my head. Second spray, mint, delicious one, mind you. Third, forth and fifth and am like CALM DOWN dude. You won't be eating mint from a fragrance, you would be smelling it. And I kept the bottle aside. GLAD I did 😆 First spray you get hit by clary sage and it's herbaceous characteristics, mint and very tea like but soon after 90 seconds, I had to walk out of the room in open because saltiness took over and I was taken aback by the intensity of it. Phew, never again, lesson learnt. So am now in open, wind is blowing and I can breathe again so I try to soak in what's there on me. It's humid and earthy, very earthy and salty, you can pretty much taste the bloody salt. Senses went numb for a minute I guess. After like 20 minutes I was able to get back to my normal senses and I started to notice some sweetness, very chocolate like smooth buttery sweetness (Cadbury caramel, semi melted in heat and you just quickly try to gulp the dripping caramel without dropping it on floor or on your clothes as you scared of your wife 🫣) But that 60-90 minutes were pretty amazing before sandalwood and some faint florals starts kicking in and ambergris takes the backstage (I believe to rest for a while) I get a faint banana smell after about 2 hours and there is no banana listed at all which made me dig my nose close to my shoulder where I sprayed in excitement of mint, and yes, it's very sweet, smells very similar to crushed banana thanks to ylang ylang. 3 hours mark, I get some freshly crushed rose petals smell for a brief 10 minutes but it gave this fragrance a new dimension. For those 10 minutes, it wasn't Musk collection I was smelling. It was more of a gourmand and floral, an amazing one. Around 4-5 hours mark, ambergris comes back to the front stage and takes over the show but this time it's not as intense as it was the in the beginning. This time it's more smooth and creamy and less feacal, most probably because I detect some sandalwood, a beautiful one. It goes back & forth from creamy to incensey and back to creamy time to time as they giving respect to each other. Creme De La Creme lasts good number of hours on skin and I would say it's the most wearable of them 3 I tried so far. If you like ambergris, you won't be disappointed but it's more than just a regular ambergris. It's feacal for some part, smoky sometimes, you get some smooth cocoa and some sweat other times. I would say sample it atleast, you won't be disappointed.

A unique scent. I've never smelled anything like it before in my life. I've tried many fragrances throughout my journey but this. This. To put it simply this is the best fragrance I've ever smelled in my life, I own many high end frags and have tried even the craziest of things you wouldn't expect me to try, but this is the singular best scent my nose has ever had the pleasure of sniffing. It's so good that when I die and I'm in my grave, I want this scent to protrude from it. Okay onto the scent, it gives me dr pepper vibes for some reason but it's so much deeper than that. If you looked at the notes you'd think this is the most animalic unbearable piece of poo ever, but it isn't; it's far from it. The dry down is the creamiest sandalwood ever (how can sandalwood even smell creamy; pause). I own some of the best ouds on the market but this is absolutely incredible and is the best oud i've had the pleasure of sniffing, with that being said I still have much to sniff especially from bortnikoff, henry jacques, jinkoh store, ensar oud and many other places but thus far this is the best oud i've smelled I just want to make that clear. What I love so much about this scent is that it's pleasant THROUGHOUT unlike many fragrances with oud with their poopy barnyardy openings but no, this is beautiful from start to finish and is so refreshing considering i've had to deal with crap openings from so many ouds. This is the first fragrance I'm going to give an 11/10. Proud owner and lover of this frag.

The Sinking Philippino Agarwood used here is extremely minty. Sinking Philipines Oud is a type of Oud that is very unique in its own league. This exquisite scent is a masterful blend of ambergris, sage, sandalwood, ylang-ylang, jasmine, rose, orris, spices, and oud. The combination of these ingredients creates a fragrance that is both soft and unique, offering a warm sensation that is simply delightful. The journey of this fragrance is quite fascinating. It begins with a smooth, warm embrace that seamlessly transitions into a floral heart, where the notes of jasmine, rose, and ylang-ylang come into play. As the scent evolves, it dries down to reveal a minty, soapy vibe that is refreshingly clean and invigorating. I believe this fragrance is perfect for anyone who appreciates the art of perfumery and enjoys exploring new and unique scents. It truly is a one-of-a-kind experience that I think only a few people will love it. A soft and unique fragrance that delivers a warm sensation, smoothly leading into the floral heart and then drydown to something minty like a soapy vibe. I love this fragrance to death. It's fresh, creamy, and clean 👌🏽

A scent that is hard for me to compare to anything I have smelled and come to know... simply unique. It is also hard for me to describe everything I feel and the ingredients that I sense. Definitely a lot of balsamic wood, a whole lot of sandalwood combined with even more amber, VERY SALTY AMBER, underpinned by many spices and flowers and agarwood. A slightly smoky orris root, sage or jasmine flickers somewhere. Over time, the scent becomes even more balsamic, although the salty amber is still noticeable in it. In my opinion, a very unique scent and exceptional at the same time. I recommend it.

Creme de la Creme has a lot of similarity to "Melange" from Elixir Attar in the opening, but the dry down go in a different direction. Overall, this is good though and would rate this 8.5 over 10 My ranking: 1. Creme De La Creme 2. Forbidden Flower 3. Cuirtis 4. Paradise Soil 5. Royal Barn Update- My ranking has changed: 1. Creme De La Creme 2. Royal Barn 3. Cuirtis 4. Paradise Soil 5. Forbidden Flower

Only ald I have tried so far but its amazing. Super well blended so its hard to figure out each exact note but after smelling it almost everyday for the past 3 weeks I feel like the most prominent notes are the oud and ambergris. Ambergris is what makes it come across as pepsi like I believe. (Some say it smells like pepsi or coke). I would love to get a full bottle of it.

Very similar to the aroma of Coca-Cola in the opening, perhaps ambergris combined with sage gives this effect. Closer to the base, sandalwood and oud with spices sound brighter. On my skin it merges into a feeling of warm fur, physicality and warmth. Also very wearable, unlike any other fragrances from previous collections.

This stuff is seriously Addictive. Russian Adam creates fragrances like no other. The deep minty aroma of the unique Oud used & the enveloping oceanic pillow of Irish coast White Ambergris. Seriously folks” perfume doesn’t get any better than this ❤️🙏

If anyone has a bottle of this, i am interested in buying it!